Expose on sexual exploits tarnishes country’s reputation

It is a day of scandalous shame for Malaysia.

Its civil society must be concerned that Malaysian politics has descended to a new low in the seeming bottomless pit of sewer politics.

And indeed they should be very upset.

You can’t spend hundreds of millions of ringgit on national programs to teach young Malaysians moral conduct when the adults show bad example. This latest attempt at scandal-making involving a major political figure will pan out as another ‘cock and bull story’ like the shameful ‘he must have hit himself’ lie.

A ‘Datuk T’ or DT for short, perhaps a cryptic hint of ‘Dirty Trickster’, has shown a pornographic video in a posh hotel to journalists, at the expense of a major political figure, who has publicly denied he was the man in the video and made a police report. And understandably so, because these days with clever stage make-up even a skinny person may look like Big Fat Mama or a striking resemblance of anyone they fancy.

Once there was honour among politicians even if it was only slightly a notch above the proverbial ‘honour among thieves’ but these days there is no honour, no moral restraint, no principle, but only win ‘by hook or by crook’ obsession. Enter the Ugly Politician who gets uglier with every evil ploy.

Money politics has all but corrupted the country despite the emergence of religious fervour that should be more targeted at the corrupt conduct of the ‘dirty tricks’ ugly politicians than the harassment of innocuous Christians by the inordinate and illegal control over their religious books including the Alkitab and their legitimate activities.

There is expose and there is conspiracy. They are worlds apart. One has the aim of protecting public interest. The other has the motive of furthering vested political interests, often sinister. The public has no time for those who conspire to destroy others instead of playing the political game fair and square, even with the bearable occasional foul.

Does politics know no limits?

And is the public supposed to sit back and enjoy the show while their country goes to the dogs, and those who should show leadership poke fun at a serious matter. I’d much rather live in the desert and count sand than watch the rise of more incorrigible conduct. But if Malaysians have not lost their sanity or left the country, they should be drawing the line in the sand and saying ‘enough is enough’.

At least those Arabs who live among sand dunes don’t bury their heads in the sand and have the guts to risk life and limb to seek the emancipation of their countries from the evil grasp of repressive rulers who have made their lives miserable.

“Give me liberty or give me death,” is not merely another saying that soothes but a fact of life and death for them as the media confronts us with graphic images of their casualties. I take my hat off to the Egyptian who lost his son but quickly rejoined the protest to save his country.

When common victims of repressors overlook the sand in their shoes and their small ambitions, and even the occasional slight, they can unite and be a formidable force against the most powerful dictators. Leaders must know humility and evident sacrifice will bear fruit for those they try to help, but leaders who think they are indispensable and are self-serving may cause disunity and weaken the common cause.

You can’t be more stupid than to fragment your group and create a situation of having more chiefs than Indians (no reference to our marginalized Indian friends) when you should be more careful in maintaining unity, and in a spirit of give-and-take, persevering amicably with others toward achieving your common goal.

How can anything else be more important to a politician than saving your country from going to the dogs?

The facts of an expose speak for themselves, they are verifiable and stand up to intense scrutiny and transparency. A conspiracy relies on fabrication and fiction, on uncertainty and doubts and cover-ups. In the crucible of independent investigation, the words of the conspirators melt like wax. They rely on compliant and corrupted media to spread the disease. Creating doubts in the public mind is the old-time devilish trick. It risks backfiring on the perpetrators.

Some respect for common decency

Malaysia, despite having some undesirable types in the government, is still a relatively decent country unlike in other places that have seen political muggings, violence, murder and outright repressiveness. But political shenanigans like the latest sex video allegation is a different matter and will only corrupt further a civil society that is already tearing at the seams because of the fault lines in public policy and administration.

It is proper therefore that the public is not only concerned about what is exposed but how it is exposed.

Politicians themselves need to show their moral mettle in condemning the dirty politics the country has just seen. Show us that you are not bereft of honour and uphold the dignity of your calling and show some respect for common decency.

It is not the time to act childish and for politicians to make silly and irresponsible remarks. Clowns should be in the circus not in the august house of Parliament and hold important posts.

What is at stake is the country’s reputation.

The recent spate of news about the sexual adventures of politically-linked Malaysians, with threats and counter-threats of exposing one another’ s sexual exploits betray a nation facing a moral crisis and falling deeper into the moral abyss.

Politicians betray themselves if they do not condemn the false portrayal of one of their own in a spurious video but it may be too much to expect those with sullied hands to participate in an act of self-condemnation. But then I believe in miracles. - cpi